Chase Guengerich is currently working for Nelson Brothers as the Mining Products Manager based in their corporate office in Birmingham, AL. Before joining Nelson Brothers, Chase was a student at the University of Kentucky and graduated with a Bachelor’s of Science in Mining Engineering. After graduation, Chase obtained his Professional Engineering (PE) licensure in the State of Kentucky. Chase has been employed with Nelson Brothers for 10 years.
As the Mining Products Manager for Nelson Brothers, Chase manages the supply chain, strategic sourcing, and procurement of Ammonium Nitrate products for use in the commercial explosives industry.
Prior to this role, Chase worked as the engineer for a newly developed solutions group for Nelson Brothers, focusing on the onboarding of new technologies to further integrate Nelson’s technical offerings in the blasting arena.
Chase has also worked for Nelson Brothers as a Technical Engineer in West Virginia, Indiana, and Alabama. In this role, Chase routinely audited blast designs and explosives performance metrics to develop site-specific blasting programs tailored to meet the end customer's needs.
I had originally pursued a degree in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Kentucky. During one of my course lectures, the professor, who also worked part-time in the industry, was explaining to the class what a “normal” day at work looks like for him. He described sitting in his cubicle with a cardboard box full of gears sitting on his desk, using a micrometer to measure the spacings of the teeth to determine the standard deviation for each gear and logging that deviation. Even though Mechanical Engineering has many responsibilities, I remember being immediately disgusted with the thought of gear deviations someday being my job and quickly began reevaluating my choice of degree.
A friend of mine told me about the degree he was pursuing, Mining Engineering. I was told about the complexities of mining and the opportunities this field provides for both students and newly graduated engineers. I decided to make the switch. Once I discovered blasting and its role in the mining cycle, I was immediately interested. After a few summer internships working as a blaster’s helper, I knew explosives engineering was where I wanted to be.
I have always been interested in the technicalities of blasting. I welcome challenges, and with blasting, you get them. You cannot take a “one size fits all” approach; it requires a healthy mix of art and science to be done correctly.
The commercial explosives industry is very small. For me and I think most ISEE members, the conferences and annual events hosted by ISEE are valuable because they provide a platform to network with other professionals in the industry and further your education in the field of blasting and new emerging technologies.
I would advise anyone who thinks they are interested in this field to get some hands-on experience through summer internships. Internships are not only a great way to gain real-world experience but also help kickstart your networking and professional development. Explosives Engineering is a small community that welcomes newcomers; I recommend joining the ISEE and getting plugged into as many events as you can!
